I slowly opened my eyes.
To a white light.
The light was soft, warm. It didn't assault me the way I had expected.
It filtered through a light fabric, a curtain swaying with a barely audible breeze.
A simple wooden ceiling…
Clean, free of cracks, no blood, no writhing shadows.
I stared at it for long seconds,
Waiting for it to collapse, to shake, or for a delayed nightmare to pounce on me.
But nothing happened.
I breathed.
The air entered my chest easily…
With an unfamiliar ease.
It took a moment…
Or perhaps more.
I didn't know when the sleep ended,
Nor when consciousness began to return to me.
But the first thing I felt…
Was not pain.
It was stillness.
A strange, heavy stillness, as if the world had finally decided to stop screaming.
Only then did I realize…
That I was still alive. And that the mission was successfully accomplished..
I tried to move my hand.
It moved.
By slow, heavily,
But without a scream from the bones,
